How to Make $1000 With Your Blog…even with a tiny list

You do not need a big email list to know how to make money with a blog (even if you are a beginner).

You don’t need a ton of social media followers or amazing SEO.

(I know, shocking, right?)

So, what do you need?

You need some traffic, a solid understanding of your audience, a good lead magnet, a product you know your audience wants, and a great email sequence.

That’s it. Seriously.

And lucky for you, I will go into each one and how to make it happen.

1. Get traffic as a rookie blogger

Many bloggers get overly focused on their social media following in the beginning. Or they spend hours optimizing their blog posts for organic search.

Neither of these strategies works all that well in helping you to make money blogging.

What works better than anything else? Blogger outreach.

You want to build relationships with bigger bloggers so that you can get in front of their audiences. That is the quickest way to get high-quality traffic to your site.

Blogger outreach comprises:

Regularly commenting on other blogs

Asking influencers in your niche to contribute to round up posts

Making pitches for guest posting

Do these 3 things and you will get a lot more traffic in your first 6 months of blogging than you’ll ever get from social media or SEO.

Make a list of 20 bloggers with whom you want to build relationships. Comment on 2–3 of their blogs every day.

Once you’ve gone through the list a few times, you’re ready for the next step which is asking them to contribute to a roundup post.

Reach out to your list of 20 (add in a few smaller bloggers if you want a bigger roundup post – 37 is a great number!) and ask them all the same question. Make it something that your audience really cares about.

Then publish a post with all of their responses. Email them to know it’s live. Many of the influencers will share your post with their audience, and you’ll see your traffic numbers go up.

After your round up post is published, don’t stop your relationship building there!

If any of your influencers accept guest posts, it’s a great time to ask if you can submit one to their sites. Since they know who you are and you’ve given them a valuable link in your round up post, they will be far more likely to have your guest post than if you had just reached out cold.

2. Get to know your audience

Now you have traffic coming in, it’s time for the next part of our 5 step plan: getting to know your audience. This step is essential to creating an irresistible lead magnet and making an initial offering that your readers want.

A few ways to get to know your audience:

Survey them.

Set up phone conversations with them

Chat with them on social media

Look up books on your topic on Amazon and read the 3-star reviews

Read the comments on popular blogs in your niche

The better you know your audience, the more you can tailor your content and offerings to them and you can start to earn blog income.

If you can survey your audience members or get them on the phone – that is the best way to learn about them.

Or you can use the trick of asking them, in the very first email you send them when they subscribe to your list, what they are struggling with the most in your niche.

However, if you don’t have the audience to talk to directly, the strategies of reading 3-star reviews on Amazon or reading blog comments on other blogs work.

3. Create an irresistible lead magnet

Once you know what your audience struggles with the most, it shouldn’t be too hard to create a lead magnet for which they will eagerly give you their email address.

Great lead magnets:

Have intriguing headlines

Provide a quick win for your readers

Get them ready to buy from you

Remember, your lead magnet should be designed to not only grow your list, but to grow it with people who are likely to buy. That’s why it should be directly related to your paid offering.

And don’t forget that no matter how great your lead magnet is, you must also make it visible on your blog and write copy around it that inspires your audience to download it. I suggest putting it across the top of your blog and in an unobtrusive, exit intent pop-up.

4. Make your first product and make money at blogging

In my group coaching program, Profitable Blogging, Simplified, I teach bloggers the process of creating a pocket launch to sell their first product.

They price their initial offering at $100. It’s a low-priced product or service, but if they get even 10 buyers, they’ve made $1k. Not bad for a beginner blogger.

A short course is a perfect first product for a blogger. When you teach it live, you can get input and feedback from your students so you can improve it the next time.

Think about your audience’s biggest struggle. Can you create a 4 to 6 part course or coaching package that will help them through it?

Your offer need not solve all of their problems – just offer one solution that is worth $100.

5. Sell your offer through email marketing

Once you’ve created your offer and outlines and planned it, it’s time to sell it to your audience!

As you probably noticed in the title of this post, you don’t need a huge list to sell 10 spots in your program – just a small list of high-quality subscribers.

Send them a series of 3–5 emails letting them know about your offering, answering FAQs about it, and getting them excited about the transformation you will help them achieve.

If you’ve done your homework on your audience and are selling something you know they want, you will make money from your blog.

70 thoughts on “How to Make $1000 With Your Blog…even with a tiny list”

Hey Sue Ann,
Totally agree with you, you nailed it. A lot of bloggers neglect the fact that it's not easy as a beginner to get your guest post approved, as they have a lot of other in house writer who writes for them more frequently. Glad that you mentioned this point.
Here blog commenting plays an important role in reaching out to those bloggers and get themselves noticed before requesting them again for guest blogging.Nayab Khan recently posted Ways to make money online

So true about focusing on blogger outreach. So many people focus on SEO and social media. I'm not saying that those aren't important, it's just nice to know that we don't have to spend all day using them.

I've actually, just started guest posting and blog commenting to start building relationships with other bloggers.

To tell you the truth, I really enjoy the relationship building part of blogging.

It's nice to know that we don't actually need a huge list if our list is targeted to our perfect audience.

Thanks for sharing these tips with us, I know they will help so many people take a look at how they have their lead magnet set up 🙂

I think SEO and social media are important depending on your niche. Blog commenting, group building, and guest posting are great ways to attract traffic. As a DIY refashion blogger, however, I find that the number of influencers in my niche are limited. However, I get tons of traffic from Pinterest and Twitter, which translates into email subscribers, albeit a lot slower than what everyone here is probably used to. I am about to launch my first guest post! I'm hoping to see some traffic boosts! 🙂

Hi, Sue. This is an amazing post and so helpful! Also it is very positive and I guess many bloggers need this positive input. The general opinion is that you need a huge number of subscribers to make money. Which is depressing to hear.

I have maybe 100 now and people have reached out to me through email with their problems. In this state where my blog is now I guess it's easy to create a course.

Now I need to get start it.

Do you still have the training on how to make a class for your blog? How long does it last?

I've been working on creating my first product but to be honest it's easier said than done for me. However, I do see the endless possibilities and it sounds like loads of fun. I guess procrastination is my biggest blogging weakness. Thanks Sue for this article. I will continue to brainstorm more about the perfect package.

Excellent ( and super helpful) post Sue! It's amazing how easy it can be to turn a blog into a business, and I wish that when I started blogging years ago I understood it's possible with even a small list! So many bloggers waste their time on trivial tasks and make small amounts from Adsense or affiliate sales when they could focus their attention on creating a course or offering a service.

Hi Sue, I like that you don't have to have thousands of subscribers to begin to make money blogging. SO many people focus on that one metric. It's like in real life – it's who you know and connect with. The same goes for blogging and social media.

The only thing that slows me down is time to write on my own blog and on others too. It's quite a balance act. I'd love more on how to succeed doing it all.

I use a timer and the Pomodoro Technique of working for 25-minute intervals and then a 5-minute break. After 4 intervals, I take a 30 minute break. It really helps me stick to my plan. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you!

Developing connections with pro blogger can be beneficial for newbies to drive more and more audience. Blog commenting and guest posting on bigger and famous website provides a healthy opportunity to become famous in least time.

Understanding or analyzing about audiences really helps to make them satisfied and it is considered as genius strategy to drive maximum traffic. Eventually, thanks for exploring these potential tips with us.

Thank you, Sue. I've been blogging for years without putting any effort into making money at it. However, I've just written my first course and want to be able to launch it successfully. I appreciate your clear explanation of the basic approach. Now to implement those steps you've outlined and watch it translate it into people signing up for the course. . Thank you again.

Blogging has become very popular and a trusted way to make money online. One have to learn the basics first and then stick to a solid plan. Patience and hard work is the key to get success in blogging and then making money is really possible. Thank you for sharing this wonderful share here.Santanu Debnath recently posted How To Connect Instagram To YouTube

I am planning to make a blog about fashion designing but in the past, I have some query regarding how to make money through the blog and that all query are solved by reading this informative article thank you so much, Sue Dunlevie, for this article.

Another very valuable post! I never thought about approaching influencers using this method, but it is a great idea.

It would also be smart to approach some of these influencers for podcasts and guest posts after you get to know them.

I usually look for influencers that are very serious about what they are doing but have not reached guru status yet. It is very easy to approach these folks because they are looking for good writers that want to add valuable content to their site without having to pay for it. Of course, the contributor receives link juice and traffic from the site they are approaching.

It would also be a good idea to have a short, well written bio ready so that when you contribute the piece the owner of the blog can post your information. You may even want to include the HTML link to your site so that it is very easy for the owner to drop the code onto his or her site with your information on it.

One last point. It is always smart to present a professional look to any correspondence or work you may do for someone. People that are serious and potential leaders are inundated with loads of messages from wannabes that think they are going to make it to the top fast.

You can very easily stand out from the crowd by approaching individuals in a very professional manner.

Once again, thanks Sue for your outstanding post and great insight. I love the way you present honest and practical advice.

I really enjoyed reading this post. Well explained and easy step by step instructions for beginners.

It's good to keep in mind that top bloggers are pretty busy and get lots of emails every day so if you want to get their attention you should spend some time to get to know them. Like you said…build relationships.

Thanks for a great read. I've been a freelance writer for a few years, and I'm just now considering ways to diversify my income. I've been going back and forth between building a niche site or making/selling a digital product.

I was really leaning toward niche/affiliate marketing, but now you've got me thinking more about building a product. I also just finished reading your "Best Way to Make Money Online" post & your tips about pre-selling. You make it look so easy.

Actually,I have a tiny email lit.few targeted subscriber in my list.I don't know,which types of product will be suitable for my list.I already got some idea from your wonderful post.thanks for the useful post.keep sharing good stuff

I really enjoyed reading this post. Well explained and easy step-by-step instructions for beginners.

It’s good to keep in mind that top bloggers are pretty busy and get lots of emails every day so if you want to get their attention you should spend some time to get to know them. Like you said…build relationships.

These methods are real ways to make $$$$//m. And I think affiliate marketing is the one of the best way to achieve this goal in a month easily. As you told about art of selling, can you suggest me some books to better understand this skill?

This is a really helpful advice for a beginner blogger.Social media and SEO plays a great role but on the other one should have the ability of writing good stuff.so that it can attract more readers and get more audience.

I guess building a brand and getting to know the target audience is very important in the blogging journey. But finally patience and hard work is the key to success . Thanks Sue for the wonderful post.